On August 10, Prime Minister Naoto Kan issued an apology for Japan's mistreatment of the people of Korea...It was the latest in a long line of expressions of remorse for past misdeeds and part of a carefully calibrated strategy of what Japanese conservatives deride as "apology diplomacy".

President Barack Obama will have to deftly navigate an atomic minefield if he decides to visit Hiroshima, the city destroyed by the first atomic bomb 65 years ago, during his visit to Japan later this year.

For the first time since the A-bomb was dropped on Japan, ending World War II and killing more than 100,000 people, the United States sent a representative to the annual memorial at Hiroshima.

A U.S. representative participated for the first time Friday in Japan's annual commemoration of the American atomic bombing of Hiroshima, in a 65th anniversary event that organizers hope will bolster global efforts toward nuclear disarmament.

As a foreign and political film junkie, I may be one of the few people my age who has only just watched Empire of the Sun , the 1987 Spielberg film initially set in 1940s Shanghai...

Barack Obama soon will make his second overseas trip as President, visiting Egypt, Germany and France. Although Obama differs from his predecessors in many respects, some things are true of any Presidential visit to a foreign country. The people at the White House who plan the trip want to set a theme, they want a memorable speech or public event, and they want good images. There is no reason for Obama’s media advisers to think any differently.

Or is there?